Anyone who has presented, trained, or demonstrated a tool within an immersive environment knows just how difficult it can often be to reference a specific position when communicating to others. There is no simple physical world equilivant to pointing your arm and hand, or using a laser pointer to highlight focus.

Although I have just released a 3D Pointer tool, I also wanted to provide a simple, but limited in functionality, alternative for those do-it-yourselfers (or cheapskates) out there.

Here’s a quick tutorial on how to make your own laserpointer for the SecondLife & OpenSim immersive environments:

1. First, create (rez) a cone.

2. Now, increase the height SIZE of the cone (the Z axis) to about 5 meters.

3. With the mouse, RIGHT CLICK on the object, and from the Pie Menus select MORE>, ATTACH>, HEAD>, NOSE. This will attach the object to your nose. This will replace anything you are currently have attacked to your nose (for example, a specialized avatar component).

4. Laugh at how silly you look.

5. Right click on the object and select EDIT. Adjust the ROTATION of the Y AXIS to 90 degrees. The object should now be pointing forward (still silly looking).

6. Finally, lets reposition it. Notice the BLUE, GREEN, & RED axis arrows running though it? Click & hold on the RED arrow then slide it forward. Click & hold on the BLUE arrow then slide it down so the object is almost level with your chest.

YOU ARE DONE. Try it out by moving your mouse around. Notice how the pointer now points toward where your mouse is located. You should probably rename the object (so you can find it easier in your inventory) and maybe change the color or texture. Just detach when finished. If you want to use it again, RIGHT CLICK on the object in your inventory & choose WEAR.

For those of you that might need a more flexible pointer (one not attached to your avatar, that can easily point out exact positions within the environment, and that multiple people can easily share use), you might checkout my newly released 3D Pointer.